Repsol Honda Team targeting another strong result in Portugal
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Repsol Honda Team targeting another strong result in Portugal
[Image: repsolhondahdr.jpg]

This week the MotoGP family head to Estoril for the last time after visiting the circuit since 2000. The Grand Prix of Portugal is the third race of the season and the Repsol Honda Team arrives there only four days after celebrating the victory of Casey Stoner and the third position finish of Dani Pedrosa in Jerez.

Casey and Dani, second and third respectively in the MotoGP World Championship standings, will be aiming for another strong result at the Portuguese track, always a challenge for its combination of long corners and heavy braking and an unpredictable weather, even more this year with the powerful 1000cc machines.

Stoner, who took his first ever GP victory at Jerez last week, will try to do the same now in Estoril, the only track on the calendar where victory eludes him in the premier class.

Dani was the last winner here having won in 2011 and holds the circuit record from 2009 with a lap time of 1'36.937. He has achieved 4 podiums out of 6 races in MotoGP class in Portugal, while Casey won in 250cc (2005) and has 3 podiums finishes in MotoGP.

CASEY STONER - World Championship Position: 2nd with 41 points

"A flying visit back home to Switzerland and now we have the Grand Prix of Portugal this weekend. After our win in Jerez, I'm looking forward to going to Estoril and hopefully we can maintain the form we've had in the past two races as we've shown good pace. However, we do need to fix the arm pump issue as it's held us back a little and it's disappointing we weren't able to fix it before Jerez. We've had some really good results at Estoril in the past, I got my first 250cc win there so I'll be aiming for another good result but it would be really nice if we can have some better weather for the weekend!".

DANI PEDROSA - World Championship Position: 3rd with 36 points

"I'm happy with our performance in the first two races, the results were good, but still not perfect. So, I will try to do the extra push in Estoril, where we achieved the first victory of the season last year after a very good weekend. It will be important to set up the bike well in a tricky circuit like this, with long corners and hard braking. It is the first time we go there with the 1000cc RC213V and a good position on the grid is always crucial in Estoril. We have to keep working hard like we did in Qatar and Jerez. Hopefully we can have good weather and the grandstands are full of Spanish fans as we had in Jerez on Sunday, especially being the last season we race in Estoril".

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02-05-2012, 09:33 AM
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